Day of Diplomatic Workers were celebrated in Ashgabat in February
The British Embassy, along with other Diplomatic Missions, celebrated the Day of Diplomatic Workers in Ashgabat.
Deputy Head of Mission Mr David Pert at the Day of Diplomatic Workers
The British Embassy, along with other Diplomatic Missions, celebrated the Day of Diplomatic Workers in Ashgabat. This is an annual important event that brings together resident diplomatic missions in Ashgabat and provides an opportunity to interact with future Turkmen diplomats.
EU Ambassadors at the Day of Diplomatic Workers
As a tradition introduced by the Turkmen Foreign Ministry, the Day of Diplomatic Workers gave an opportunity for each of the participating Embassies’ to exhibit and display items of interest from their countries at the foyer of the Institute of International Relations under the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkmenistan.
The British Embassy shared a stand with other EU Embassies and met students and trainee Turkmen diplomats who visited the exhibition. Recent copies of British newspapers The Times and The Guardian, as well as leaflets about the UK government’s flagship Chevening scholarship programme, were popular with visitors to our joint EU stand.
The Deputy Chairman of the Cabinet of Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Mr Meredov also called into the EU stand where he met the British Ambassador, H.E. Miss Thorda Abbott-Watt OBE as well as the German and Italian Ambassadors. The Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy, Mr David Pert, who was on the stand highlighted the vital role of each diplomat in further strengthening the relations between our two countries. He was pleased to hear good English spoken by future Turkmen diplomats and that they had a genuine interest in the UK.
Following the exhibition, an International Conference titled “Diplomacy of the Silk Road: Triumph of Peace, Friendship and Cooperation” took place at the Institute of International Relations of the Foreign Ministry. Among senior speakers, the British Ambassador Miss Thorda Abbott-Watt was the first one to address the audience on this important day and said:
This is the year Turkmenistan commemorates its place at the heart of the Silk Road, the most influential network of trading relationships in history. For centuries, these interconnecting land and shipping routes linked East and West. They brought goods not just from China, but from the Korean peninsula and Japan. They extended not just westward to Southern Europe but south, around the coast of India to Zanzibar and through the Arabian Gulf to Egypt.